Gem mines, 10:38 am
BlackJack wanders through the caverns of mine, his hand is extended and glowing with magic as he walks through the caves. Before suddenly the magic flares. He immediately stops and starts mining. He uncovers several jewels of various colors and shapes.
"It's funny how little gems are worth here." He comments as he collects the gems.
Acquired item: Ruby ×3
Acquired item: Sapphire ×4
Acquired item: Topaz ×2
He continues walking deeper into the caves, picking up any gems and ore he can find until reaching a large open cavern.
-Location discovered: Diamond Dog Mines-
"Diamond Dogs?, like that old Bowie song? That's ridiculo...." he stops when he spots a statue of an odd standing dog wearing clothes and on it's base is carved: David Bow wow. " And...thats hilarious" BlackJack says blankly staring at the statue. After taking his attention off the statue he spots several red markers on his map scattered all across the cavern and closing in. One by one the diamond dogs emerge from the caves, some carrying tools and pushing carts while others are armored and holding spears. BlackJack clenches his sword as the dogs begin to surround him. Three dogs step forward as they seem to be the leaders
" what are you doing in our cave" the medium dog in the red vest asks getting close to BlackJacks face, blackjack retched at the dogs breath but stood his ground.
" Mining my own business" blackjack says with a snicker.
"This is the Diamond dogs mine, everything here belongs to the diamond dogs" Rover says with the other dogs agreeing.
Black jack looked unimpressed by the dogs or their mine, after looking around with his detection magic he noticed that not only were the dogs low leveled, with the 3 leaders just in the low 40's and the rest high 30's but their mine was all but taped out with only a few select pockets of gems and ore left. Ignoring the dogs yelping blackjack walks past him and strikes the wall with his pick and several jewels fall from the wall to the dogs surprise. " you can find gems?" Rover asks gesturing to the guards, who surround him " Find us more!!" Rover yells. Black jack becomes annoyed at the dogs yelling
[Am I seriously being ordered by a dog?]
"Now!!!" Rover yells as the guards point thier spears at BlackJack. BlackJack would've cut them to pieces but he preferred not to immediately kill things that can tall back to him, so to avoid conflict he released his sword from his grip and complied using his detection magic and a stick to mark the areas.
"Good monkey, find more gems" rover says with a patronizing tone raising Blackjack's aggravation as he walks into a cave, the dogs follow. As Blackjack continues walking and marking area's with jewels buried Rover continues to bark orders behind him.
Soon BlackJack became so irritated he stopped marking spots and began to point to them. " Fetch" he says pointing to the next spot. he continues to say fetch as he points to new spots. the guards comply digging in the marked spots and retrieving the gems, completely un aware of Blackjack's tone. but Rover and his trio begin to notice Blackjack's demeaning commands as he grew more vocal with each jewel deposit.
"Hey you don't command the Diamond dogs, we command you!" Blackjack begins to tense up, hearing this dog talk to him like this was more insulting than it had any right to be, before long Rovers yelling causes blackjack to stop walking.
" you work for Us and Find our jewels, then when your done, you'll find us metal and then....
Used Skill: Amplified Voice
"SHUT... UP!" Blackjack yells with a strong echo causing all the Dogs to stop and look at him.
" How dare you! We are the diamond dogs, you obey us monke....." Rover freezes at the sight of Black Jack's Eyes. His eye's resembled that of a hungry predator and glowed bright green in the cave's darkness. the dogs begin to shake and slowly back away from black jack, Rover trembles as if he was staring at a beast from Tartarus.
Used skill: intimidation.
"Don't you dare think you can command me you filthy mongrel!!!" He says with a threatening deep tone. BlackJacks anger was swelling, how dare this animal think he can command a human let alone talk down to one.
Blackjacks mind begins to fade into his rage as his skill tree popped up and formed new red branches going down from the usual White tree like corrupted roots.
<Fiend Branch Accessed>
While his vison is locked onto Rover one of the guards out of fear attempts to run. as he passes the Trio he's tackled by Black Jack with almost instant speed sliding several feet. The guard is petrified with fear as the man pinned him with crushing strength. Blackjacks pupils narrowed resembling a viper's and his breath began to deepen releasing small clouds from his mouth as his teeth began to sharpen. before the guard could let out a Bark Blackjack's mouth opened wider than naturally possible and began to bite into the diamond dog's exposed skin while tearing off his armor with his hands.
Used Skill: Beast Assimilation
As Blackjack continued to consume the Diamond dog his body began to morph. hair grew all across his body, his face extended, and a large spiked tail resembling a flail grew from his rear
Before long a massive black diamond dog with a silver snout, glowing green eyes and razor sharp fangs stood over the crushed armor and bones of his victim. The other Dog's were frozen in place trembling as the beast roared loud enough to shake the cavern then suddenly dashing to another guard and slaming him into the ground then to another hitting him into the wall. the creature continued to pound through the guards until only the Trio was left standing. The beast slowly closed In eager to savor these last 3 victims
-Time expired-
As it reaches them it begins to regress back to human form, and blackjack falls face first in front of the Diamond Dog leaders. Still shaken Rover, Fido and Spot look around at the carnage. many of their guards were dead while the rest wounded And there on the ground was the monster responsible. The 3 looked at each other then to Blackjack and knew what they had to do.
One hour later
Blackjack wakes up in a daze similar to a hang over, when his vision clears he see's that he is below the david bow wow statue. sitting up he notices that he has a blanket placed over him and a huge amount of gems and crystals piled around him. " huh?...What the hell?" Looking to the side he see's the surviving Diamond dogs bowing to him and chanting
"Black Diamond.....Black Diamond...Black Diamond"
Blackjack sits confused until Rover and his Trio Step forward and humbly bow " Black Diamond, please forgive us" Rover says as he bows his head and offers Black Jack Gold and Silver Ingots on an iron platter.
[ Huh? now that's a 180 If I ever seen one, what the hell happened? I know yelled at them then everything went black after.]
BlackJack continued to ponder on the events but it took a backseat in his mind after noticing that the dogs were shaking.
Black Jack slowly reaches his hand to rover causing him whimper in fear, until he felt a soft touch on his head.
"Good boy" Black Jack says as pets Rover. The Other dogs watch as Black Jack Scratches behind his ears causing his tail to wag and his leg to kick uncontrollably. blackjack moves his other hand to Fido holding it below the dogs nose allowing him to smell it before petting him as well. Soon enough the other dogs began to approach allowing black jack to pet and scratch them as well.
[Huh I guess in any world Dogs are Still dogs]
-Notoriety Gained: Diamond Dogs-
< Merciful Demon > The Pack acknowledges your terrifying power and great mercy
After lovely petting session the Dogs line up and Kneel before Black Jack
"Black Diamond, Please Let Us join your Pack" Rover asks
" We will serve you well" Spot Adds
"And mine many precious gems for you" Fido says lowering his head
A large Smirk appears on Blackjacks face. not only were the dogs acknowledging his superiority but they were also willing to mine ore and gems for him, this was too perfect to pass up." you three, hold each others paws" blackjack commands as he places his hand on Rover's head. The dogs obey and blackjack begins applying the beast pact but instead of a Spade tattoo the dog's receive Spade Tags on their collars. while the guards received spade marks on their chest plates
New Beasts Acquired: Diamond Dogs x 15
Title Acquired: Pack Leader
Area Conquered: Diamond Dog Mines
Black Jack Stands and addresses his new pack " I need Iron, Coal and Platinum, find as much as you can" the dogs obey and enter the caves to dig, except for the Trio who stayed to await further orders. Blackjack sits back down beneath the statue entering his property menu. The Mine was mostly baron with only 10% of it's resources left, with the majority of it being jewels or coal. soon Black jack noticed the Trio Still standing there." what?" he asks them exiting his menu.
"Is there anything else we can get you master?" Rover asks Bowing his head
BlackJack was about to send them away to join the other dogs in the mines but realized that he still needed information and these three seemed like the best option.
"Tell me about this Black Diamond."he orders as the dogs look at each other then to BlackJack.
" Long ago before ponys ruled, monsters ran wild across the lands and chaos reigned. Creatures fought for everything from food to territory. "
"Diamond dogs were prey for cave monsters, we had to run and hide to survive, until Black Diamond. He came from no where with coal black fur and bright eyes and killed the monsters"
" he taught the Diamond dogs to fight and united the packs and together diamond dogs defeated the attacking monsters.
but the more he killed monsters the more he became like the monsters. Soon he went wild and left diamond dogs to attack other creatures.
The diamond dogs where left without an Alpha until David Bow Wow the last of Black Diamonds Litter rose up and rebuilt the Diamond dogs giving us our name and society.
Soon the Diamond dogs joined the other creatures and fought against the monsters until they all but vanished.
Diamond dogs remember Black diamond as both hero and monster we never thought another would exist until we saw you." The three bow " New Black Diamond is smarter and will Make Diamonds dogs strong."
-Lore entry added <Diamond Dogs>-
"Hmmm.. I see" BlackJack says as he opens the lore entry. The full story is more complex than the version Rover told him. Apparently the the original Black Diamond was a great warrior who defeated monsters but he was also a tyrant who would conquer other packs killing or neutering all the males and hording the females, making every modern diamond dog his decendants. When he went wild, David Bow wow killed him and falsified his legend to inspire the new pups and rebuild their people.
[Damn this world is darker than I thought]
BlackJack sits debating his options and contemplating what made the dogs worship him, the image in the lore entry showed a massive dark diamond dof resembling that of a were wolf with gorilla arms. He scrolls through each window of his HUD. The only clue he had was the fiend branch access but he couldn't find it anywhere on his skill tree. He figured it had something to do with his black out. After questioning the dogs all they could tell him is that he ate one of them. And turned into a large black diamond dog and after a small rampage he just collapsed.
[ this is nuts how the hell am I supposed to deal with this?]
BlackJack rubs his head stressed before looking up and seeing all the dogs looking at him with concern some even tilting thier heads like puppies. BlackJack couldn't help but smile at this sight. Even though they were rough around the edges the diamond dogs were still dogs.
[I guess I can worry about that later]
With his mind calm Black Jack stands.
" bring me a map" he commands. Quickly one of the guards passes his map and as a reward BlackJack gives him a pet to his head.
- Subterranean Map Acquired-
The map linked with the one in his HUD now allowing him to see two different levels of the land. The map also revealed the locations of other diamond dog settlements and mines.
Soon BlackJack noticed that this mine was close to the everfree forest. He smiled with joy as he grab a pen and marked the location on the map. " alright dogs I want you to pack up this mine and move to this location." He says pointing to the map." My den is above there. and I'm certain this full of gems and ore. And maybe even a place for you to settle." The diamond dogs murmured amongst each other for a few moments until rover stepped forward
"Um..Black Diamond ..that place is in pony territory."
"Actually, it's my territory " he says circling the area." This area is called the everfree forest, a hostile environment full of beasts and monsters, but it's also outside of the pony's territory." He says as he traces the perimeter of the forest on the map. " but this place is my home" he says pointing to the circle he'd drawn. "So there should be no issues."
The dogs murmurs became excited barks, the promise of a fresh mine and even a new home was enough for any diamond dog to be excited.
" One more thing" BlackJack says calling the dogs attention. " My name is Black Jack not Diamond, and you will call me...Master."
The Dogs simply kneeled in acknowledgment. " Yes, Master BlackJack" thier spade symbols glowed in unison
- Beast Loyalty Maxed -
<Diamond dog pack can now be modified>
BlackJacks beast menu updates, showing 3 tabs, one for each species. In the diamond dogs tab he accesses the trios pages and upgrades thier strength and endurance stats, and snickering to himself he grouped them together in thier own party and labeled it "Stooges."
" Ok stooges bag up this stuff and follow me back home." Rover and the two obeyed knowing who he was talking to." The rest of you start moving to the new location I want the mine established by nightfall." With thier orders set the dogs began thier tasks. While BlackJack and his stooges began walking to the surface each carrying a large bag.
On the surface ponys watched both scared and suprised at the sight of thier human guest leading 3 diamond dogs through the town.
" Just in time for lunch" BlackJack says entering the gates of the Deckfort.